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China is not going to be able to pass us in per capita energy use because there are five chinese for each one of us.
As of right now they are consuming 5X the coal we burn, within the last decade alone they have increased their annual consumption as much as we burn annually. The reason the per capita is still higher inthe US is becsue of other factors like cars, higher standard of living etc.
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of coal produced anywhere in the world leaving nothing for the rest of the world to use.
At the rate they are going now they will exhaust their domestic supply in about 30 or 40 years. This is not an issue in the US. We have enough for about two centuries and that is based on just what they know can be recovered. It's substantially larger amount in reality.
If the electric rates here go up (which this would likely do), then it becomes even more profitable for manufacturing to move to China. With lowered demand for coal in the US, the prices should drop to make it more competitive on the world market...so China would then get cheaper coal and could even lower their rates. Then they have to expand their grid to accommodate increased manufacturing by building more power plants and using even more coal. Then the transporting of all the trinkets and junk that America is addicted to buying requires additional fossil fuel in shipping. Pollution overall on the global scale would likely increase as a result.
The overriding incentive for manufacturing to move to China is slave labor rates not electric rates. Rates will rise but not as much as detractors say. As Paul Krugman said in today's column:
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: right-wingers love to praise the power of free markets and declare that the private sector can deal with any problem, but then turn around and insist that the private sector will just throw up its hands in despair and collapse in the face of new environmental rules. The actual lesson of history — for example, from efforts to protect the ozone layer and reduce acid rain — is that business can generally reduce emissions much more cheaply than you think, as long as regulation is flexible to allow innovative solutions.
At the rate they are going now they will exhaust their domestic supply in about 30 or 40 years. This is not an issue in the US. We have enough for about two centuries and that is based on just what they know can be recovered. It's substantially larger amount in reality.
That is what worries me. As those countries out there begin to deplete their resources, their eyes will turn to countries that have an abundant supply. This is what will spur wars. If those who hold the resources are not careful, diligent, and make efforts to be able to defend themselves, they will be taken.
That is what worries me. As those countries out there begin to deplete their resources, their eyes will turn to countries that have an abundant supply. This is what will spur wars. If those who hold the resources are not careful, diligent, and make efforts to be able to defend themselves, they will be taken.
Look at China's population invasion into Africa for an example of what you just said.
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